The Unhurried Pastor
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How can pastors prevent burnout and find balance? In The Unhurried Pastor, Brian Croft and Ronnie Martin redefine productivity for a more sustainable ministry.
Our Limit-Less God
The western mindset assumes that we must always be busy, moving, and hurried to be productive. The secret to true spiritual fruitfulness is the opposite. The Unhurried Pastor helps you discover genuine pastoral productivity that brings joy and longevity.
The book begins by remembering the humanity of pastors. This means remembering the physical, spiritual, and emotional components that make us humans. I was reminded that we are limited, and was encouraged to seek our limit-less God.
Humble and Hopeful
The heart of a humble pastor knows the need to slow down. The hopeful pastor knows God’s promises for his people and the pastor’s need to receive them.
Self-awareness, contemplation, and prayer are three benefits of an unhurried pastor. Eat, sleep, exercise, friendship, rest, and silence are ways pastors can commit to self-care. An entire chapter is dedicated to rest. This means taking days off, vacations, and sabbaticals.
I was most interested to read on the pastor’s need for silence. Pastors can easily use noise to block out the pain in their lives. Embracing silence allows us to expose our soul to God, confront the voices that we hear in our minds, and listen to God.
Do Less to Accomplish More
The book ends with a call for emotional courage – for pastors to stop, be present, and feel with others. Meaningful friendships can be pursued by valuing the power of presence, seeking friendships inside and outside the church, and praying for each other.
The book concludes by saying that the unhurried pastor experiences more and deeper joy from ministry, is a more effective pastor, and has the best chance of being a pastor for the long haul. The less busy we are, the more free we are to do the essentially Christian acts. I am inspired to do less to accomplish more for Christ and his kingdom.
I received a media copy of The Unhurried Pastor and this is my honest review. Find more of my book reviews and follow Dive In, Dig Deep on Instagram - my account dedicated to Bibles and books to see the beauty of the Bible and the role of reading in the Christian life. To read all of my book reviews and to receive all of the free eBooks I find on the web, subscribe to my free newsletter.